The U.S. economy was able to create 517,000 new jobs last January, bringing the unemployment rate down one-tenth to 3.4%, the lowest since 1969, the Labor Department has reported.
The strength of the U.S. labor market has exceeded the expectations of the analysts’ consensus, which predicted the creation of less than 200,000 new jobs in January.
In fact, the number of new jobs generated in January comfortably exceeded the average gain of 401,000 new jobs during each month of 2022.
On the other hand, the Labor Department has reported that it has revised upward the job creation figure for November by 34,000, as well as for December, 37,000 more jobs than initially estimated. With these revisions, job gains in November and December combined were 71,000 more jobs than reported.
In its analysis, the Labor Department has highlighted that job growth in January was broad-based, led by gains in leisure and accommodation, professional and business services, and health care. Employment also increased in the public sector, partially reflecting the return of striking workers.
Leisure and accommodation added 128,000 jobs in January compared with an average of 89,000 jobs per month in 2022. Likewise, employment in professional and business services increased by 82,000 compared with a monthly average of 63,000 in 2022.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
